Beverage cup holders are useful for insulating the cup from a person's hand. For hot beverages, the holder protects the person's hand from being burned. Many types of holders are known in the art. However, existing holders suffer from one or more drawbacks. For example, existing holders are generally constructed from a flat blank attached to itself at a seam. Seams have a tendency to delaminate thereby rendering the holder useless, or even presenting a safety hazard if delamination occurs at an inopportune time. Existing holders do not adhere to the cup and a person's hand, therefore it is too easy for the cup to slip out of the holder and for the holder to slip out of the person's hand, thereby presenting a safety hazard. Many existing holders are not reusable, or have only limited life, which adds to the waste burden since such holders are discarded after one or only a few uses. Many existing cup holders require extensive and/or intensive multi-step manufacturing processes thereby increasing expense and manufacturing time.
Additionally, many existing cup holders cover up or obscure art work or logos on the cup, thereby reducing brand exposure. Cup holders that overcome deficiencies described above while permitting the display of art work and logos are particularly desirable. In particular, it would be desirable to have such cup holders in which art work, logos or other branding indicia may be permanently set by embossing, inking or cutting.
Accordingly, there are unmet needs in the prior art to provide an improved insulating holder for a beverage container.